Exhibitions

Bastian Börsig

pitching pennies

“Pitching Pennies” follows simple rules: When you throw a coin against a wall, the objective is to have the coin land as close to the wall as possible. Whether it’s called Penny Up, Chucks, Pigeon Toss, or Jingies - Börsig uses the metaphor of games and takes on these fleeting moments in order to create alluring works that play with the imagery of in-betweens.

Börsig's interest is in the development of things themselves—from form to form—notwithstanding the depiction of non-being. Here and there we can make out a grid, a branch, a few legs... and already we sense the movement of a fleeting figure. Structures and objects disappear beneath clouds of colour, then reappear elsewhere and form substantially. He transforms a “thing painting” into a “colour painting” and back again, for just a moment – before the coin disappears!

By mixing oil with enamel and acrylic with charcoal, Bastian Börsig creates arrangements of peeling paint and unusual drying surfaces. The top layer breaks open as it dries faster than the underlying layer; a deliberate craquelure demonstrating considered originality. Börsig always rearranges, flipping everything around, in order to create something new and volatile.

Bastian Börsig (*1984) studied in Karlsruhe and Warsaw. With numerous awards and scholarships to his name, his most recent exhibition was in New York. Börsig lives and works in Karlsruhe and Pitching Pennies is his fourth solo exhibition at Wagner + Partner.